


Monster

by Dan_Francisco



Category: Overwatch (Video Game), Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (Video Games)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, False Innocence Trick, Gen, Idiot Ball, Modern AU - Overwatch, Others Mentioned - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 03:27:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20202955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dan_Francisco/pseuds/Dan_Francisco
Summary: Rainbow has many dangerous prisoners, kept at Hereford Base for safe-keeping until being moved to a new facility. New Rainbow operator Lena “Tracer” Oxton has been assigned to provide security for one such prisoner.





	Monster

Lena “Tracer” Oxton had considered it the best day in her life when she was asked to join Rainbow. Who _wouldn’t_ want to be part of the best special operations team in the world? Heading out, fixing problems, helping people who needed it, everything about the organization spoke to her. They had even overlooked her involvement in Overwatch for the chance to get in, and here she was, now a full-fledged member.

Unfortunately, she was at Hereford, pulling security detail for a prisoner. She didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary – just some woman locked away in a cell, with Lena under strict orders not to talk to her or engage with her under any circumstances, with a further outstanding order not to open the door for anyone but a confirmed Rainbow member. How exactly she was to get confirmation of that, Lena wasn’t sure.

A man stepped towards her in a French Army officer’s uniform, black hair marked with streaks of gray. This was Gustave Kateb, better known as “Doc” to most everyone.

“Good morning, Tracer,” he said, nodding to her and sliding open the viewing panel on the prisoner’s cell door. “And good morning to you too.”

Silence. Doc stared at the inside of the cell, his eyes darting back and forth. At what, she didn’t know.

“Uh, the prisoner’s been quiet, Doc,” Lena said, nervously swallowing. “Is… is that a good thing?”

He sighed, closing the viewing panel and stepping away from the door. “Yes and no. I would very much like to discuss with her what she was doing, but… well, she’s been very uncooperative.”

“What’d she do to get in here?” Lena asked.

Doc laughed, shaking his head and patting Lena’s shoulder. “That, young one, is classified information. Maybe later.”

Without bothering to further answer her, Doc left. This was going to be a boring day, wasn’t it? She looked at her watch – five more hours of guard duty. Already her issued L85 was feeling heavy in her hands. Lena sighed, settling back into position.

* * *

Two hours later, Lena’s stomach was growling like no tomorrow. On the advice of Lieutenant Porter, aka “Smoke,” she had a light breakfast. Turned out, this move was coming back to haunt her. She’d give _anything_ to be given a break, at least relief to eat a snack or something. Would _anything_ happen other than saying hi to Doc today, or was she cursed to be latched to this boring as hell duty? Lena honestly thought she’d be out _doing_ something, not just playing babysitter.

She was just about to get back to counting the specks on the wall in front of her when an explosion rocked the base. Electricity went out – someone must have cut the generator. Red emergency lights replaced the previous soft yellow ones. An alarm blared, and she heard a mix of German, French and English in various accents fill the air. Indecision began to fill her. Should she go help? But… she hadn’t been relieved here, or told to go assist.

Smoke ran by, hastily loading a shotgun and locking eyes with Tracer. “You!” he shouted. “Don’t you dare abandon this post, do you hear me?”

“Uh, y-yes, sir,” she shakily said, readjusting her grip on the rifle.

He nodded, pulling his gas mask over his face and heading out to the front of Hereford base. Lena swore she heard gunshots. She stiffened up, reassuming her position next to the door, staring straight ahead at the wall and only occasionally checking to the sides. Was it Talon? She wasn’t sure.

A cough came from behind her. Lena nearly shot off a round in panic, not expecting something to come from _behind_. She came to her senses quickly though, and realized it was the prisoner. She _really_ shouldn’t, but Lena slowly opened the viewing port anyway, spotting a woman peering back at her. She expected a pair of blue eyes, but instead, she found a pleasing blue eye, and a terrifying red eye starting back, with some sort of metal plate surrounding the blue eye. Lena heard a gasp of air escape her lips, not expecting the prisoner to be so close.

“Did they tell you why I’m in here?” she asked, a smooth Irish accent emanating from the cell.

Lena gulped. She remembered well what they had told her. _No interaction whatsoever._ As if paralyzed, Lena stared back at the eyes that seemed to peer into her very soul. Finding strength again, Lena managed to slide the panel closed, only to be stopped by the prisoner.

“It’s alright to be curious,” she cooed, the hints of a smile appearing just below her eyes. “I’m curious as well. Mostly as to what they’ve told you.”

“I… I’m not supposed to talk to you,” Lena explained.

“Of course not,” the prisoner said. “But rules were meant to be broken, right?”

“I-I really can’t talk to you,” Lena said, turning away and taking back her post.

She heard the sound of metal sliding. Must have been the prisoner pushing open the panel, to see out. “My name is Moira O’Deorain. Have you heard of me?”

_Don’t answer her. Don’t engage._ “No,” Lena said, immediately failing.

“They put me in here because they think I was doing dangerous things. Imagine it – a scientist, doing something _dangerous._”

Lena swallowed again, trying very hard to ignore both Moira and the gunshots that echoed deeper in the building.

“I was developing groundbreaking cancer research. My studies in genetics could have led to an absolute end to childhood cancer. Can you imagine?”

She was finding it _very_ hard to adhere to her duties, to not engage with the prisoner. No, _Moira,_ she had a name now. “Well, I… I guess that’s not too bad.”

“Of course it’s not. So, you see now, yes? Rainbow arrested me and locked me in this cell, all because somebody lied to them. But you… well, you could help set the record straight.”

“How am I supposed to do that?” Lena asked.

“It’s simple,” Moira said, even as the gunfire began to inch ever closer. “You let me go. I’m innocent of the crimes they’ve accused me of. I can prove it, all I need is to get to my lab.”

Lena jumped as a gunshot rang out, incredibly close this time judging by how it echoed and bounced off the walls. This couldn’t possibly be part of her duty, right? It didn’t make sense.

“Did you know this is a training mission?”

“It is?” Lena asked, brought out of the chaos as she suddenly began questioning everything that had happened during the day.

“Of course. Why else do you think you would be assigned to guard a prisoner, but not be told who it is or what they did to be locked up like this? Rainbow wants to see how you deal with unexpected situations. They want to see creativity.”

The more she thought about it, the more Lena realized that it made a hell of a lot of sense. Two of the highest-ranked operators here had told her that she wasn’t to ask questions, just do her job. But why not give her everything she needed to do it? It didn’t make sense to her. The only thing that did make sense was what Moira was saying, that this was all a test.

“Alright,” Lena finally decided, slinging back her L85 and pulling out the keys to the cell. “I’ll let you out. Do you need me to get you to the helipad?”

“No, I can make my way there,” she said. “I’m like a shadow.”

Almost immediately after unlocking the cell, she heard heavy footsteps. Lena turned to the source of the noise, spotting none other than the international terrorist Reaper, with Widowmaker and Sombra in tow. Three high-level, confirmed Talon agents, _right in front of her._ She panicked, tried to reach for her gun, but the threat of Reaper’s shotguns right in her face stopped her from ever finishing the move.

“Hold your fire,” Moira commanded. “She’s a _friend_ to us.”

Reaper’s gaze turned to Moira, a sick crackling noise emanating from him as he turned his head. “You’ve _got_ to be kidding me.”

“Who do you think opened my cell? Don’t kill her – despite all appearances, she has _use.”_

Reaper stared at Moira for several seconds, before lowering his shotguns. “Fine. Don’t make me regret this, Moira.”

Moira smirked, walking away with the other Talon agents as she steepled her fingers. “Ta-ta, Tracer,” she said.

Lena stood there, paralyzed in fear. She had done this. _She_ had let a Talon agent go. Stupid, stupid, stupid, _stupid._ More footsteps – this time, less than friendly than they may have been before. Doc flanked to her left, going wide and checking the cell to find it empty. When he figured it out, Doc glared at Lena, his once-friendly demeanor having disappeared.

“What did you _do?”_ he demanded, lowering his gun. Lena was unable to say anything in defense – how could she? Doc grabbed her shoulders and shook her rapidly, almost as if he was trying to jostle the answers out of her. _“What did you do?!”_

Truthfully, Lena wasn’t quite sure herself. She knew _what_ she had done, but as to why? The rationale behind her actions was lost on everyone, herself included.


End file.
